USA > Connecticut > Representative citizens of Connecticut, biographical memorial > Part 22
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slany & boch
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henry Gillette Colt
Bank of which he was vice-president. For a number of years he occupied one of the most prominent places in business activities of that section, and exercised a great influence upon the course of industrial and financial development there.
During his early years Mr. Colt was an active figure in politics, and while still a resident of Torringford was very prominent in the Republican party. In 1863, but shortly after his return from active service in the war, he became the candidate of that party for the State Legislature and served in that body for a term. After his removal to Winsted, though he retained his former keen interest in all political questions, he withdrew from active political work, and rather avoided than sought public office of any kind. On questions of local and national importance he leaned to independent views and was generally known among his associates for his progressive ideas as well as for tolerance of the opinions of others. For many years he was a member of the Society of the Second Congregational Church of Winsted, aiding materially the work connected with the church, its many charities and benevolences.
Mr. Colt married, March 19, 1874, Annette Griswold, at Winsted. Mrs. Colt was a native of Norfolk, Connecticut, born June 23, 1849, daughter of James and Catharine (Lane) Griswold, old residents of that place. At a very early age she accompanied her parents to Indiana, where she passed her girlhood. At the age of seventeen she returned to be educated in New England and attended Mrs. Phillips' School in Winsted. Her death occurred May 1, 1886. Soon her sister, Mrs. H. G. Millard, came to have the care of the children and since that day remains in charge of the household. To Mr. and Mrs. Colt had been born three children, two of whom are now living and the third deceased. The eldest of the children is Ella Chloe, born De- cember 19, 1874; she attended the Robbins School at Norfolk, Connecticut, and later Wellesley College, from which she was graduated with the class of 1897; she is the wife of Harrison G. Fay, A. M., a graduate of Harvard University and teacher in New York Training School; they have three chil- dren: Henry Colt, Priscilla Brigham and Gilbert Jefferson. The second child of Mr. and Mrs. Colt, also a daughter, is Florence Annette, born Janu- ary 7, 1876; educated at the Boxwood School in Old Lyme, Connecticut, and at the Pratt Institute, Brooklyn ; she is now a resident of Winsted, where she still dwells with Mrs. Millard in the beautiful home owned by Mr. Colt at No. 55 Walnut street. The third child of Mr. and Mrs. Colt was a son, Henry Lane, born July 15, 1877, died February 24, 1901 ; he received his education at the Robbins School at Norfolk, the Worcester Academy and a business college in Boston.
Mr. Colt's citizenship was of a kind that might well serve as a model for the young men of the community. Possessing those sterling virtues which are typical of New England character, simplicity and straightforward democracy, he represented that union of idealism and practical sense which renders the most valuable service to the community. His place in the busi- ness world was an enviable one, and he had a universal reputation for the most undeviating integrity and the soundest judgment. He was not a jot less admired as a man than was he as a financier and captain of industry,
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indeed the memory of him in his private relations, as a husband and father, as the head of his household, as a good neighbor and friend, is perhaps more vivid than that of the successful man of affairs. He was a social man, delighting in the society of his fellows, especially when it was of an informal, spontaneous nature, though for that more formal kind of social function he had no great fondness. His chief happiness was found in the life of his home, where his own individuality found its readiest and most typical expression, not only in his own conduct, but in moulding the external features of the house and place to fit his taste and fancy. It is for this reason one notices a charm in No. 55 Walnut street which is lacking in many more pretentious homes.
JEspaulding
Jap Ellery Spaulding
J AY ELLERY SPAULDING, in whose death on January 6, 19II, Winsted, Connecticut, lost one of the most prominent of its citizens, and the Connecticut business world a con- spicuous figure, was the product of that special set of con- ditions which obtained as nowhere else in colonial America, and have continued almost unbrokenly down to the present time. These conditions were such that culture, education and refinement were subjected to a severe simplicity of life unusual, so that men and women possessing all these advantages were thrown upon an economic equality with the humblest. However such people may have felt at the time about this state of affairs, the resultant development in New England has certainly displayed a population whose high character speaks loudly in favor of the arrangement.
The Spaulding family, of which the subject of this sketch is a member, is one of three lines resident in this country, of which all but a few recent immigrants who bear the name of Spaulding are members. The immigrant ancestor of this particular line was Edward Spaulding, who came from England about the year 1630, and settled in Braintree, Massachusetts, where he became prominent. His name appears on the list of proprietors as early as 1640, and he was a freeman on May 13 of the same year. He was one of the petitioners for the grant for the town of Chelmsford, made October I, 1645, and he became one of the original settlers of that place, where he con- tinued to live the rest of his life. He was one of the most influential men in the community he had helped to found, and held many offices of trust, among them being selectman for a number of years, in 1648 a juryman, and in 1663 the surveyor of highways. From this worthy forebear, a long line of capable and cultivated men have arisen, who nevertheless were obliged by the exigencies of their situation in a new and untamed continent to resort to the two primitive occupations, husbandry and war. In the time of the grandfather of Mr. Spaulding, the family removed to Northampton, Fulton county, New York, where its occupation continued to be farming. Mr. Spaulding's father, Lockwood Spaulding, was a native of Northampton, New York, and a lifelong resident of the place, where he became a man of distinction, a deacon of the church and a justice of the peace. He was mar- ried to Miss Mary Ann Spaulding who was the mother of his six children.
Jay Ellery Spaulding, the third child of Lockwood and Mary Ann (Spaulding) Spaulding, was a native of Northampton, Fulton county, New York, where he was born August 15, 1846. He was educated in the local public schools and passed the first twenty years of his life in his native town. In the year 1866 he removed to the State of Connecticut, which had for so long been the home of his forebears, and settled in Winsted, Litchfield county, where he secured a position as clerk in a hardware store. After a time spent in this employment he engaged in the same business for two years in partnership with J. J. Whiting and S. F. Dickerman, of Winsted. Like
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so many of the young men of that day Mr. Spaulding was possessed of a strong desire to see the West, the vast size and boundless opportunities of which were even more alluring in that day than at present, when it has been more completely reduced to the order of things known. He consequently seized the first opportunity of going out in that region and accepted the offer of a position in the Old National Bank of Grand Rapids, Michigan. He did not remain in the West later than the year 1872, when he returned to Winsted, Connecticut, and there commenced the long and close association with J. G. Wetmore which only terminated with the latter's death. Mr. Wet- more and himself became interested in the New England Pin Company. Mr. Wetmore becoming president of the concern, and Mr. Spaulding general office man. Upon the death of Mr. Wetmore he became treasurer and general manager of the concern, and later became president of the company, and what was already a flourishing business rapidly grew to its present great proportions, and took rank among the largest and most important indus- trial enterprises in that region. The unusual business capacity of Mr. Spaulding, which was in the main responsible for this result, soon made him a conspicuous figure in financial and industrial circles of Winsted and his interests rapidly grew wider until he became connected with many of the most important business concerns in the neighborhood. Such was the case with the Carter-Hakes Machine Company, the New England Knitting Com- pany, and the Morgan Silverplate Company, of all of which he was the president and a member of the board of directors. He was also vice-presi- dent of the Citizens Printing Company, and president of the Music Hall. He became a power in the industrial world and was honored as one of the fore- most business men in the community.
But great as was his influence in this direction, and great as were his activities in connection with all his manifold business interests, Mr. Spauld- ing did not do as so many of our modern captains of industry are prone to, that is wrap themselves up in an impenetrable atmosphere of business from which they never descend to the consideration of other things. Mr. Spauld- ing was possessed of too wide an understanding not to perceive that such a course means the inevitable narrowing of a man's outlook and sympathies, and the atrophy of his being. Pursuing the opposite course, he forever sought to widen the horizon of his activities, to develop his sympathies and increase the points of contact which he possessed with his fellow men. This was not a conscious effort on his part but rather the instinctive conduct of a man who had seen too much of the great world of life to desire to shut him- self up in the small world of his private interests. It was for this reason that he took a vital interest in all movements for the improvement of his adopted town, and aided with his time and energy all such as appeared to him of genuine value. He served on the committee appointed by the town to take charge of the improvements made in the water system, and as a trustee of the Memorial Park and Soldiers Monument Associations. In politics too, Mr. Spaulding took an active part but always actuated by the purest, most disinterested motives. He was a member of the Republican party, and a keen observer of, and a wise commentator on the political issues which agitated the country during his life. Nor was he less interested in local
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issues, and the conduct of State and municipal affairs. A man of Mr. Spauld- ing's business prominence, who possessed in addition the highest social standing, and a deep and genuine popularity, measured up in every par- ticular to the standard of a successful political candidate, could not be long overlooked as such by the local organization of his party. He had served his fellow citizens already for many years as burgess and warden of the bor- ough of Winsted, and for fourteen years was treasurer of the town, when he was offered and accepted the nomination for General Assemblyman to repre- sent his town in the State Legislature. He was elected and served as a member of that body during the year 1895, serving also on the Committee on Incorporations and as clerk of the Litchfield County Representatives.
Another of the manifold activities of Mr. Spaulding was in connection with the fire department, in which he was very much interested. He was vice-president of the State Association of Firemen, and did much to develop the efficiency of fire protection in his own town, and indirectly elsewhere. But even this does not exhaust the list of Mr. Spaulding's interests and manifold activities. He was a conspicuous figure in the social life of the community and an active member of many fraternities, clubs and other similar organizations. He was a member of the St. Andrew's Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, of Winsted; of the Unity Lodge, Knights of Pythias; of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, of Winsted, and of the Improved Order of Red Men.
Mr. Spaulding's character was an unusual one, a fact reflected in his personal appearance, wherein might be seen a combination of rare traits. Perhaps the first of these to catch the eye of the stranger was the look of indomitable resolution, always the accompaniment of the strict moralist, who allows no personal consideration to conflict with his idea of honor and duty to his fellowmen. It is also easy to note the acute, intelligent eye of the man of the world, the purposeful man, the man not easily deceived. Yet these characters, which if unbalanced so easily lead to hardness and indiffer- ence to the rights of others, are obviously in his instance modified and soft- ened by a kindly human sympathy, and an abiding sense of humor. If it was the first of these traits which caught the notice of the stranger, it was the last which his friends were most conscious of. These qualities showing out in his countenance had their homologues in his actual character, a character which gave him a leading place among his fellow citizens, and made his death felt as a loss not only by his immediate family and personal friends, but in a real sense by the community at large.
Mr. Spaulding was twice married. His first wife was Miss Elizabeth Rossiter Wetmore, whom he married May 9, 1872, and who died February II, 1890. Of this union were born two children, the eldest of whom was a daughter, Louise Wetmore, born August 30. 1873, and died May 24, 1914. She was married, June 12, 1895, to the Hon. James W. Husted, of Peekskill, New York, who has just been elected Congressman from New York State. The father of the Hon. Mr. Husted was also James W. Husted, a member of the General Assembly of New York State, and speaker of the House for a number of years. Both father and son were members of the Assembly and both leaders of the Republican party in their State. To Mr. and Mrs. Husted
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were born six children, as follows: James W., Jr., May 15, 1896; John G., October 8, 1897; Priscilla Alden, February 25, 1899; David R., April 1, 1900; Ellery S., March 3, 1901 ; and Robert, January 27, 1906. The second child of Mr. and Mrs. Spaulding was John Wetmore, born November 9, 1878, and died March 27, 1895. Mr. Spaulding married, on June 30, 1892, Miss Grace W. Hopkins, of Winsted. She was born at Torringford, April 27, 1867, a daughter of Edward T. and Gertrude (Waterman) Hopkins, of that place.
George Wakefield Phelps
G EORGE WAKEFIELD PHELPS, in whose death on June 6, 1896, Winsted, Connecticut, lost one of its most highly- respected citizens, was a member of the old and eminent Phelps family which has been so closely identified with the life and activities of New England from the earliest colonial times, and which has contributed so many worthy sons. The name, from the time of his earliest traceable forebears, has been greatly and frequently altered in spelling, its origin being undoubtedly the Christian name of Phillip, with the "s" added to signify the son of. About the year 1520 there was born in Tewksbury, Gloucestershire, England, one James Phelps, who was the common ancestor of the many related branches of the family in Connecticut.
His grandson, William Phelps, was the immigrant, coming to America with his brother George, his wife and six children, on board the good ship, "Mary and John," Captain Squeb, from Plymouth. He landed at Nantasket, now Hull, May 30, 1630, after a voyage lasting two months and ten days, and settled at Dorchester, being indeed one of the founders of the place. He became a freeman later in the same year and was a prominent man in the community, holding many positions, serving on commissions, and generally making himself a conspicuous figure in the region. He was one of the jurors in the first jury trial ever held in New England. William Phelps later removed to Windsor, Connecticut, and eventually became Governor of the Windsor Colony. From this ancestor are descended a number of collateral lines, which have given to Connecticut such men as Guy R. Phelps, Eli Phelps, William H. Phelps and George W. Phelps, who was of the seventh generation from the immigrant ancestor.
William H. Phelps, the father of George Wakefield Phelps, was one of Winsted's most eminent citizens, and most closely identified with the great industrial and business development of that place. He lived in the West a part of his life, in the city of Chicago, and while there founded the success- ful mercantile house, which years after, when the original firm had sold their interest to others, became the great nationally famous house of Marshall Field & Company. In the meantime Mr. Phelps had returned to Winsted, Connecticut, and there organized and founded the Hurlbut Bank, holding the office of president until his death. A great many of Winsted's best known men have been associated with this institution, and many have had their business training within its walls. William H. Phelps married, in 1840, Lucy C. Wakefield, of Winsted, who became the mother of his two children, of whom George Wakefield was the elder.
George Wakefield Phelps was born July 25, 1842, in Hitchcocksville, Litchfield county, Connecticut. He passed his whole life in Winsted, where he gained the more elementary portion of his education, attending the local schools. He later went to school in Litchfield and Essex, and finally com- pleted his studies in the well known Everett School of Hampden, Connec-
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ticut. After graduating from the last named institution, he was given a position in the Hurlbut Bank in Winsted, of which his father was the presi- dent. His easy grasp of the details of the banking business quickly won him promotion and it was not long before he had risen to the office of cashier. He did not carry his financial career any further, however, resigning from the bank upon the death of his father in 1864.
Mr. Phelps was better known in Winsted as a man of affairs than as a banker, and in the former sphere of activity he was a prominent and popular figure. He was a keen observer of the course of political events during his life, and his judgments in the matter of the issues which at that time agitated the country were both sound and tolerant. He was a lifelong member of the Democratic party, and a staunch upholder of its principles and policies. He took an active part in the local organization of the party and his voice was for many years influential in its councils. The conduct of the affairs of the community interested him greatly from the most altruistic of motives. He was the candidate of his party for offices a number of times and served his fellow citizens most faithfully and effectively as warden of the borough, and later as Winsted's representative in the State Legislature. Mr. Phelps attended the Episcopal church at Winsted. He was very active in the work of the parish, serving as vestryman for a number of years, and materially supporting the philanthropies connected therewith. He was a man of strong religious feeling who, not content with its mere profession, translated his belief into the terms of his daily life and conduct, and observed a truly Chris- tian attitude in his associations with all men.
Mr. Phelps married, February, 1867, Ellen M. Forbes, a native of Shef- field, Massachusetts, born November 13, 1840, and a daughter of William A. and Minerva (Shears) Forbes, of that place. To Mr. and Mrs. Phelps were born four children, three sons and a daughter. The eldest of these was Launcelot Lawrence Phelps, born June 4, 1869, and died September 15 in the same year. Judith Bigelow Phelps was the second child, born November 8, 1870, and now Mrs. Ralph W. Holmes, of Winsted, and the mother of two daughters, Ellen, born May 30, 1908, and Belinda, born July 27, 1910. The third child of Mr. Phelps is William Henry Phelps, now the cashier of the Hurlbut Bank, having succeeded to the position formerly held by his father in the institution founded by his grandfather ; he married Mary Pelton and has one child, George, born May 10, 1909. Mr. Phelps' fourth and youngest child is Launcelot, born August 24, 1880, educated at the local public schools and at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and now the train master at Utica of the New York Central railroad; he married Olivia Smith, and by her has had two children, Pierson Smith, born April 19, 1907, and Mary Morton, born May 24, 1909.
henry Bay
H ENRY GAY, in whose death on May 17, 1908, Winsted, Con- necticut, lost one of the most respected and well loved of its citizens, was a splendid example of those strong men who, in the past generation, brought so tremendous an industrial and financial development to New England. Like so many of his contemporaries, Mr. Gay was the product of two factors, which are apparently well fitted in combination to produce the strong yet polished type that has made New England famous. These factors are those of a cultured and refined origin and an environment of simplicity with wealth just sufficient for the necessities of life and hard work the condition of continued livelihood. As to the first of these factors, Mr. Gay was descended on both sides of the house from fine old English stock, both paternal and maternal families coming to America during early colonial days. The immigrant ancestor on his father's side was John Gay, who came from England and settled in Watertown, Massachusetts, in the year 1630, being a grantee in the great dividends and in Beaver Brook plow-lands. He was admitted as a freeman May 6, 1635, and later removed to Dedham, then known as Contentment, Massachusetts, where he died in 1688. The mater- nal ancestor was John Reed, a native of Cornwall, England, who when young served in Oliver Cromwell's army, and after the restoration crossed to the colonies and settled in Providence, Rhode Island. He later removed to Norwalk, Connecticut, where his name is mentioned in the records of 1687. From both of these sources, honorable and prominent careers may be traced in their respective families until they finally converge in the parents of Mr. Gay. These were Henry Sanford and Mary (Reed) Gay, the former a native of Sharon, Connecticut, where he was born, March 14, 1790, and the latter of Salisbury in the same State, her birth taking place April 5, 1796. It was upon his father's farm at Salisbury, that Henry Gay of this sketch first saw the light of day on April 5, 1834. His mother died when he was little more than three years of age. His father was a man of the highest ideals and the boy grew up under the best of influences. He continued to live on his father's farm and there gave such of his time as could be spared from the necessary schooling to aiding his father in the farm work. It is probably in this, his healthy youthful environment, that the second factor in the develop- ment of his sterling character is to be found. Certain it is that there is no training to be found better calculated to develop such characters as we possess than the wholesome labor of the farm, involving, as it does, the closest contact with the simple, elemental facts of Nature.
In such an enviroment Mr. Gay passed the first years of his life, growing through boyhood to early manhood. For the more formal part of his educa- tion he attended the local schools. He must have been of an exceedingly bright mind even in those early days, for he was able to absorb all the educa- tion which the district common school had to offer and attend the semi- naries, first at Salisbury and then at Winsted for three years, before he was
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fourteen years of age. His lot was similar to the majority of farmers' sons in that day and generation, in that the exigencies of his circumstances forced him to become self-supporting early, so at fourteen, he abandoned school and found employment as clerk in a country dry goods store at the little town of Lakeville, Connecticut. He continued in this service for four years, and then left Lakeville and made his way to Falls Village, Connecticut, where a position had been offered him in the Iron Bank and thus entered upon the career in which he was to make so important a place for himself. He did not remain long with the Iron Bank, but in 1854, when twenty years old, came to Winsted, which remained his home until his death, and there once more devoted himself to banking. His unusual mind and the great grasp of the business which he quickly attained to, soon made him a promi- nent figure in the banking and financial world of that region, and in the course of his career of more than fifty years, identified him with prac- tically all the important institutions of the kind thereabouts, as well as with many industrial and business concerns. The list of these is an extraordinary one, and conveys some idea of the part played by him in the development of Winsted and the surrounding region. He was for many years president of the Hurlbut National Bank of Winsted, and of the Winsted Edge Tool Com- pany. He was also a director in the latter concern and in the following: The William L. Gilbert Clock Company; the Winsted Hosiery Company; the New England Knitting Company ; the George Dudley and Sons Company ; the Morgan Silver Plate Company : the Winsted Gas Company; the Con- necticut Western Railway Company; the Richards Hardware Company ; the Winsted Silk Company and the Citizens' Printing Company. He was also a member of the partnership known as the Winsted Yarn Company. In spite of the manifold duties connected with the management of these con- cerns, a task which would seem in itself a quite sufficient burden for the average shoulders to bear, Mr. Gay was one of the most active figures in Winsted in many other aspects of the city's life. In all measures for the improvement of the community, he was prominent, giving with equal gener- osity of his time, his money and his energy. He was president of the Gilbert Home and a trustee of the Gilbert School, being himself the donor of the land upon which the former stands. He was president of the Winchester Soldiers Memorial Park Association, incorporator of the Litchfield County Hospital and chairman of the trustees of its permanent funds; and he was president of the Beardsley Library. He was also greatly interested in the development of real estate in Winsted and the neighborhood, and dealt extensively therein.
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